1. Field of the Disclosure
The present invention relates to refrigerators, and more particularly to a refrigerator which displays a quality change of goods stored therein to a user for improving convenience of the user and prevent the user from using the stored goods changed in quality; and a method for controlling the same.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
The refrigerator is an appliance for supplying cold air produced by a refrigerating cycle to a refrigerating chamber and a freezing chamber for maintaining freshness of various foods for a long time period.
In general, the refrigerator is provided with a body having a refrigerating chamber and a freezing chamber for storage of food, and a door rotatably coupled to the body at one side thereof for opening and closing the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber, and the body is provided with elements of the refrigerating cycle, such as a compressor, an evaporator, an expansion valve, and so on, for supplying the cold air produced by the evaporator to the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber for storage of the goods, such as food, stored in the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber for a long time period at a low temperature.
That is, in general, the freezing chamber is maintained at a temperature below −18° C., and the refrigerating chamber has a refrigerated temperature in a range of about 2° C.
And, the refrigerating chamber is partitioned into a plurality of spaces with shelves and the like for making effective holding and storage of the stored goods according to kinds of the stored goods, wherein the refrigerating chamber has an upper region provided with a storage space for fish and the like, and a lower region provided with a storage space for storing vegetable and fruit.
The vegetable and fruit stored in the storage space are involved in tissue damage to change in quality by moisture in the storage space and microbes present on surfaces of the vegetable and the fruit when a certain time period is passed even if the vegetable and the fruit are stored at a low temperature.
However, in order to determine the quality of the vegetable and the fruit, since a quality analysis process is required, in which dryness and changes of nutrient components are measured, a long time period is required and a complicate procedure is involved.
Moreover, when the user intends to intake the vegetable and the fruit in the storage space, since the user will not use the quality analysis process under the reasons of required time period, expense, and the complicate procedure, there has been a risk of increased liability of being seized with a disease by intaking the vegetable and the fruit changed in quality thus.
In the meantime, recently as demands on high quality refrigerators increase gradually owing to living environment improvement, a display unit, such as an LCD panel, is provided to the refrigerator door for providing information on the refrigerator and controlling the refrigerator.
However, the display unit only provides the user with basic information, such as a time, and temperatures of the refrigerating chamber and the freezing chamber, but does not provide information on a quality change of the food stored in the refrigerating chamber, making the user to keep storing the quality changed food in the refrigerating chamber until a bad smell emits from the refrigerating chamber.